The present invention relates to grinding machines, especially to plain grinding machines, and more particularly to improvements in grinding machines with magazines for storage of spare tools and the like.
A workpiece which is to be treated in a grinding machine must be securely clamped to its carriage during treatment by one or more grinding tools. It is already known to equip a grinding machine with a set of holders each of which can engage and properly support a different workpiece while the workpiece is treated by a grinding wheel. The configuration and/or other characteristics of the holders will depend on the characteristics of the workpieces, on the construction of the grinding machine and/or on the nature of contemplated treatment. For example, if workpieces are to be treated by a rotary grinding wheel which removes material from the external surfaces of workpieces, the work holders can be mounted on a pair of carriages and can be equipped with clamping tongs, with a clamping chuck, with a center point, with a floating entraining element, with a tailstock, or with one or more steady rests or the like.
If the grinding machine is to be converted from treatment of one type of workpieces to treatment of another type of workpieces, it is normally necessary to replace a previously used work holder with a different work holder. Such exchange of work holders is normally carried out by hand. This is a time-consuming operation, especially if the grinding machine is utilized for the treatment of small or medium sized lots of workpieces. In other words, the intervals of idleness of the machine during a change of setup are excessive.